TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The new legislation goes into effect over the summer, which means parents will still be looking out for those final results while they’re on break.
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“I have a third grader, which is the big year, and as a parent, I do feel the pressure of, ‘What if he doesn’t pass this test?’” said Dr. Rebecca West Burns.
Dr. Burns is a mother and educator of teachers. For over a decade, she has been an education professor, training new teachers to build lessons and teach according to the curriculum. Here in Florida, that curriculum has been shaped by one test: the FSA.
DeSantis said in a speech today as he signed the legislation that it was time to end the test.
“Today, we are here not to praise the FSA but to bury it” he said.
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Burns says the FSA, like any statewide standardized test, can negatively impact how teachers can teach.
“When you attach high-stakes testing, what we have seen and what research have showed is that teachers feel an increase pressure to “teach to the test,” Burns said.
But now, that pressure to teach to specific standards should be eliminated, as DeSantis announced today the FSA is officially in its final year. DeSantis described the replacement testing for the FSA in the speech.
“We would do progress monitoring that would monitor progress throughout the school year,” he said.
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Florida will now have three smaller state exams throughout the year. Teachers will have results in one week and parents in two.
“This type of assessment was much more effective than kind of the big, study for weeks, all the marbles on the last test,” DeSantis added.
Florida is the first state in the nation to take this measure get rid of end of year exams after they became widely used following No Child Left Behind Act in 2002. This new method will allow for more consistent progress checks.
“The FSA doesn’t give parents and teachers room to have those important conversations about what is best for the child education,” said Burns.
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Burns hopes it brings Florida back to a higher standard of education for all students in the state.
“I’m hopeful that if we can remove that high-stakes piece, and we can really see great benefits for teachers and kids,” Burns said.
The 2022–2023 school year will be a transition year, and schools will not be graded. School ratings will continue the next year.
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